TexasCHLforum.com

Went home after reading this... My gun safe falls squarely into what the are describing. Bent sheet steel, minimal reinforcement. Putting my hand in the inside edge, I can actually feel where the steel ends. There isn't even a backing angle on the jamb side of the door, meaning the only thing 'there' is the sheet steel. I could probably break into it with a larger screwdriver.... sigh.

Very glad you posted this ELB. I'll be getting other options for the non-gun valuables, maybe a safe deposit box at the bank. Its basically useless in that 'safe'. Not only is it easily accessible, I have in fact consolidated the 'best' valuables in the house into one spot and put a big "Look Here" sign on the front.

As the gun safe reviews guy noted, there are a fair amount of used "real" safes on eBay and other sale sites, TL-30 and TL-15 UL safes, often for the same price as a new "gun safe". Some of them are TL-30 x 6 even.

The hitch is that you usually have to move them yourself, so you have to search of ones that are in your geographic area, and then find a company or some unsuspecting friends to move it.

I find picclick.com to be a good way to quickly find safes. Just type in "TL-30" or "TL-15" in the search bar and poof! Dozens of pictures of safes for sale pop up. The down side is I haven't found anyway to limit the search to a geographic region. I just look for a likely looking safe (e.g. tall enough to hold long gun), then click on it and see how close it is. Not quite ready to pull the trigger on one yet, but I keep looking to have an idea of what the market is like, and by doing this I have discovered a couple dealers in second-hand safes that are not too far from where I live.